Organic gardening helps inmates kick drug addiction

Public Domain Unsplash Physically and mentally, growing plants without chemicals has a transformative effect. Anyone who has spent time gardening knows the restorative effect it can have. There is something about dirt on one’s hands, the pulling of weeds, and the creation of something beautiful and alive that draws people back, year after year. So it’s no wonder that gardening is being used to rehabilitate prison inmates battling drug addiction. One particular location, at HMP Rye Hill in England, has seen its Mandatory Drug Test failure rate go from 30 percent on average to zero in one year since implementing an organic gardening program. Food Tank reports on the program’s stellar success, saying the HMP’s horticultural program has "improved self-esteem and self-control, better health and wellbeing, a shared community and improved communication among inmates who work toward a common goal, and behavior changes inside and outside the prison." There are numerous reasons for this, as outlined in a report commissioned by HMP . Gardening creates a space that is beautiful, peaceful, and conducive to reflection. It’s a place where the inmates work at their own pace, with minimal presence of guards. "Participants repeatedly write [in their diaries] about the […]

Grant Brown is a passionate environmentalist, driven by a need to “leave it better than he found it”. This drive, combined with a capacity to understand power solutions of all types, helps him in his day job as VP Marketing at a start up clean technology company. His goal personally as well as professionally, is to help and inspire others to become a part of the green shift and to leave a positive legacy in the world.